Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Operation Barracuda is a 2005 novel and the sequel to the 2004 novel Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell. Both novels were written by Raymond Benson under the pseudonym David Michaels. This was the final Splinter Cell novel written by Benson. The book was released on November 1, 2005 and was successful, reaching number 9 on the NY Times mass market paperback best-seller list. Operation Barracuda, like its precursor, is told in the first-person from the view of NSA black-ops agent Sam Fisher.

Contents

Taking place almost a year after the first novel, the plot picks up with Third Echelon attempting to search and bring to justice the members of The Shop, an international arms dealing ring that played a large part in the first novel. While Sam Fisher is working to collect information on The Shop in Ukraine and Russia, Third Echelon is continuing its investigation into how the Shop had previously managed to gain the identity of a number of Splinter Cells and murder them, another plot element from the first book.
However, when a German scientist named Jeinsen, who defected to the United States from East Germany long ago, goes missing and then reappears dead in Hong Kong, heads begin to turn. Jeinsen had developed a new submarine vehicle for the United States Navy, that could theoretically carry a nuclear weapon. Sam Fisher is sent to learn why the scientist was in Hong Kong and who killed him; it is suspected that a local group of Triads named the Lucky Dragons had involvement. What Third Echelon does not yet realize is that Jeinsen, the Lucky Dragons, The Shop, and a traitor inside their own government are all part of a much larger picture involving a rogue Chinese general named Lan Tun, with ambitions to invade and conquer Taiwan.
With Sam Fisher not even aware that he is the world's only hope of stopping an international crisis, he has to balance his job and a new romantic relationship that he is hoping will finally bring happiness to his life.
Ultimately, General Tun threatens to use the submarine vehicle to detonate an MRUUV (a very deadly nuclear bomb) off the coast of California, destroying LA with a massive tsunami, unless America abandons Taiwan when it is invaded by China. Fisher manages to foil the plot, and all the conspirators involved including the traitor, the general, and the Shop are viciously gunned down.

Mike Chan/Mike Wu - Analyst. He escaped the Third Echelon headquarters, but was eventually captured and placed into an interrogation room. Sam Fisher, able to make it to the United States, had interrogated Mike Wu for information. Despite wanting to kill Wu for his betrayel, he let him live to forever carrying around the guilt of murdering Carly for the rest of his days. It is unknown what happened to Wu after the interrogation.

Anna Grímsdóttir - Grim returns from psych leave following the death of acting technical director Carly St. John to help Fisher track down Carly's murderer and members of "The Shop".

Darrell Blake - During the meeting between United States government agencies directors, Blake defended Third Echelon Director Irving Lambert during an argument between Lambert and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Cooper.

Howard Lewis - He was the NSA director during the events of the MRUUV incident. He was present, along Colonel Irving Lambert, at a meeting with the other head of the others Federal Agencies about the development of MRUUV weapon.

Andrei Zdrok (†) - He was a rich banker who owns the Swiss-Russian International Merantile Bank. After his plot is foiled, Sam takes Zdrok's brass knuckles and strikes him in the face in Chapter 36. It is later revealed that Zdrok died of the injuries sustained from the aforementioned incident in a hospital bed before he could be tried for his crimes.

Anton Antipov (†) - Executed after being interrogated after his three men were shot by Sam Fisher in Chapter 21.

Stefan Prokofiev - General Prokofiev survives his wife's attempt to kill him with their own Winchester rifle, yet he is left in a vegetative state and is not expected to recover, effectively ending his status as a threat and putting him off of Third Echelon's radar.

Gregory Jeinsen (†) - He was an American German scientist who worked on the MRUUV Program. He defected from East Germany in 1971 to the United States of America developing weapons for them. Jeinsen became unsatisfied by how much the US military was paying him, and thus sold information regarding the MRUUV Program to China with the help of someone named 'Mr. Wong.' On his trip to Hong Kong, China, Jeinsen went to a nightclub (run by the local triad, the Lucky Dragons) to pick up his final paycheck from the triad, but was instead killed in Chapter 4. His body was then dumped in the water near one of the nearby harbors. His body was discovered by Police Sergeant Kim Lee Wei some time after.

Lan Tun (†) - During the fourth hour of the conflict, the U.S. Navy sank General Tun's Ludo destroyer with torpedoes in Chapter 39.

Gary Firuta - He was a FBI Special agent during the MRUUV incident and was part of a NSA-FBI joint operation in order to arrest a Shop member.He was sent undercover in LAX airport and was Fisher's contact during this time.

Max Carlson - He was sent with two other soldiers (Ben Stanley and former Navy Seals Sam Fisher) to disarm the MRUUV bombs in the Los Angeles bay. He survived the operation and managed to get to the LSMR ship.

Ben Stanley (†) - He was a Navy SEAL operator and held the rank of Ensign, he was part of a diving operation into Santa Monica bay, during the MRUUV incident, in order to disarm MRUUV's bombs. Unfortunately he found a MRUUV device charged with a bomb and died in an explosion in Chapter 37.

Don Van Fleet - He was a Lieutenant and a LSMR ship commander during the MRUUV crisis and he was the commander during the disarmament operation of the MRUUV in the Los Angeles bay near Santa Monica. He had 2 Navy SEALs under his command.

The story also mentions that Third Echelon headquarters is located in Washington D.C. but is moved around the city every couple of years for security reasons.

The book mention that events of the previous book took place in the previous year ("last year"). The story takes place in the winter (in the northern hemisphere)[1], it is mentioned about a third through the book that Chinese New Year occurred recently[2]. References in the previous novel place the events of that book no earlier than spring of 2005[3]. Operation Barracuda also states that the events of the previous novel were the last major operation conducted by Third Echelon. This would place most of Operation Barracuda sometime between January and before March 28th, 2006 (the beginning of Pandora Tomorrow). Chinese New Year occurred on January 29 in 2006. The events of Pandora Tomorrow began in Spring of 2006, March 28th.

This novel suggests that Third Echelon was founded, and Grim was recruited in the nineties (the same as in Essentials). Checkmate, and the first novel also suggest that Third Echelon was founded/Grim's recruitment occurred years before 2003 (when the president founded Third Echelon via an executive order).